Scarab
Carved scarab beetle on the front side. The head with eyes are shown. A groove separates the prothorax from the wing cases (elytra) which are divided by a line. A V-shaped notch at the top of each wing-case. Legs are delineated.
On an oval surface of the base, in an encircling, a horizontally arranged emblem is clumsily impressed. Its central part consists of an irregular oval (as a cartouche’s substitute) filled with three negligently executed signs of the nswt-bjtj name of Tuthmosis III (- pr-rᶜ, graphic as No. 1), denoting also the cryptographic form of the Amun’s name (Cf. Drioton 1957; Jaeger 1982: 94). These signs are very carelessly executed, with two legs excessively large. The king’s name (or Amun’s trigram) is additionally flanked by two m3ᶜt-feathers filling the field on both sides. Probably the Hellenistic copy of the 18th dynasty scarab.
The described scarab belongs to mass-produced types representing a wide variety of workshops of late Egyptian and Eastern origin (Naucratis, Phoenician and Punic types). Finds of this kind dated at the First Millennium B.C., especially to its second half, were very popular on many sites and mainly necropolis around the Mediterranean, but until now unknown on the Adriatic shores. (More detail typology and distribution of scarabs in the Mediterranean world see in: Ferghali Gorton 1996.). These kinds of scarab were not commonly used in Egypt or outside Egypt during the Roman Empire which could be one of the proofs of their arrival during the period of the late Hellenistic/late Roman Republic.
On an oval surface of the base, in an encircling, a horizontally arranged emblem is clumsily impressed. Its central part consists of an irregular oval (as a cartouche’s substitute) filled with three negligently executed signs of the nswt-bjtj name of Tuthmosis III (- pr-rᶜ, graphic as No. 1), denoting also the cryptographic form of the Amun’s name (Cf. Drioton 1957; Jaeger 1982: 94). These signs are very carelessly executed, with two legs excessively large. The king’s name (or Amun’s trigram) is additionally flanked by two m3ᶜt-feathers filling the field on both sides. Probably the Hellenistic copy of the 18th dynasty scarab.
The described scarab belongs to mass-produced types representing a wide variety of workshops of late Egyptian and Eastern origin (Naucratis, Phoenician and Punic types). Finds of this kind dated at the First Millennium B.C., especially to its second half, were very popular on many sites and mainly necropolis around the Mediterranean, but until now unknown on the Adriatic shores. (More detail typology and distribution of scarabs in the Mediterranean world see in: Ferghali Gorton 1996.). These kinds of scarab were not commonly used in Egypt or outside Egypt during the Roman Empire which could be one of the proofs of their arrival during the period of the late Hellenistic/late Roman Republic.
Catalogue entry
Scarab from the hard paste
Franciscan Monastery, Košljun
Archaeological collection
without inv. no.
Ancient Egypt, unknown location
Krk (Curicum), date unknown
Ptolemaic period (306-30 B.C.)
hard paste: carving
1.8 x 1.5 x 0.65 cm
Resources
- Tomorad, Mladen. „The Ancient Egyptian Antiquities in Institutional and Private Collections in Croatia“. U: Tomorad, Mladen (ur.). A History of Research into Ancient Egyptian Culture conducted in Southeast Europe. Oxford, 2015: 31-58. 51.
- Tomorad, Mladen. „The Ancient Egyptian Collections in Croatia and the Project Croato-Aegyptica Electronica“. U: Derriks, Claire (ur.). Collections at risk: New Challenges in a New Environment - Proceedings of the 29th CIPEG Annual Meeting in Brussels, September 25-28, 2012, Royal Museums of Art and History Brussels, Belgium. Atlanta, 2017: 237-268. 238-239, 259-260.
- Tomorad, Mladen. „The Early Penetration of Ancient Egyptian Artifacts and Dissemination of the Cults of Egyptian Divinities in Istria and Illyricum (1st Millennium B.C.-1st Century A.D.)“. U: Tomorad, Mladen (ur.). A History of Research into Ancient Egyptian Culture conducted in Southeast Europe. Oxford, 2015: 165-200. 186, no. 18, 193, fig. 141.
- Tomorad, Mladen. „The phases of penetration and diffusion of Egyptian artefacts and cults in the region of Istria and Illyricum (from the 7th c. B.C. to the 4th c. A.D.)“. U: Györy, Hedvig (ur.). Aegyptus et Pannonia V. Budapest, 2016: 185-226 + Plates 69-81. 196-197, 203-204.
- Tomorad, Mladen. Staroegipatska civilizacija, sv. II: Uvod u egiptološke studije. Zagreb, 2017. 83.
- Tomorad, Mladen; Sliwa, Joachim. “Tri staroegipatska skarabeja iz Arheološke zbirke franjevačkog samostana na Košljunu, Hrvatska - Three Ancient Egyptian scarabs from the Archaelogical Collection of the Franciscan Monastery on Košljun, Croatia”. Prilozi Instituta za arheologiju 32 (2015): 243-250. 245-247.
